Most prior devices for this purpose are too complicated and expensive to be practical and most are not designed for very heavy loads. The conventional devices have an excessive number of moving parts to provide release in different ways as may be desired. This makes them expensive to manufacture and keep in good working order. Failure of a load hook may result in expensive loss of time in a large loading or unloading operation. Also, most prior load hooks are not suitable for use with the now common flat web slings.